Adaptable buildings for sustainable built environment http://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/3672/ Article LJMU has developed LJMU Research Online for users to access the research output of the University more effectively. Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Users may download and/or print one copy of any article(s) in LJMU Research Online to facilitate their private study or for non-commercial research. You may not engage in further distribution of the material or use it for any profit-making activities or any commercial gain.The version presented here may differ from the published version or from the version of the record. Please see the repository URL above for details on accessing the published version and note that access may require a subscription. LJMU Research Online Adaptable buildings for sustainable built environment PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the ability of 'adaptable buildings' to respond to future potential built environment changes in sustainable way.Design/methodology/approach A detailed literature review and a case study were undertaken to identify the life cycle changes of typical buildings over a period of more than 100 years. Twelve (12) semistructured interviews were conducted among construction industry professionals to identify how adaptable buildings enhance sustainability within the built environment. Case study data were analysed through a Morphological Analysis, and the interview data were analysed through discourse analysis. Originality/valueThis paper reports a longitudinal study spanning over 100 years, exploring the extent of building adaptation within a selected cluster of Liverpool city centre, UK. The study further confirms the need to incorporate adaptability as a key criterion when designing buildings. The increased rate at which 'change of use' has occurred further reinforces the need. Lack of track records on designing for reuse makes this an interesting challenge for the construction industry, hence likely to have significant implications for policy / strategy formulation.

Disasters cause considerable damage around the world every year. The built environment is significantly affected by disasters. Whilst the built environment is expected to withstand such occurrences, the construction industry is expected to play a pivotal role in reconstruction of damaged property and infrastructure. Such responses call for technological and managerial innovation. Therefore it is important that construction professionals receive continuous skill development to respond to disaster situations in order to build a disaster resilient built environment. Due to the complexities involved in and due to peculiar nature of disaster situations, lifelong learning is considered as an appropriate way of ensuring continuous education to the various stakeholders of disaster management. The paper reports preliminary findings from a European Commission funded research project aimed at modernising the higher education institutes to support lifelong learning in the built environment. The paper reports the key findings from the literature review and case study on disaster management, emphasising the role of lifelong learning in disaster management education. Empirical data collected as part of the workshop suggest that providing disaster management education as a degree programme is ineffective due to the complexity and multi-disciplinary nature of the subject. Further, the lack of involvement with the industry and the lack of research and development activities on disaster management by built environment professionals act as hindrance to effective disaster management education. In addressing the shortcomings on the existing approaches of disaster management education, this paper concludes that lifelong learning as the most appropriate approach to educate built environment professional in the context of disaster management.

This is an author produced version of a paper published in Disaster Prevention and Management (ISSN 0965-3562, eISSN 1758-6100) This version may not include final proof corrections and does not include published layout or pagination. Copyright Items in 'OpenAIR@RGU', Robert Gordon University Open Access Institutional Repository, are protected by copyright and intellectual property law. If you believe that any material held in 'OpenAIR@RGU' infringes copyright, please contact openair-help@rgu.ac.uk with details. The item will be removed from the repository while the claim is investigated. Citation Details'This article is © Emerald Group Publishing and permission has been granted for this version to appear here (https://openair.rgu.ac.uk/). Emerald does not grant permission for this article to be further copied/distributed or hosted elsewhere without the express permission from Emerald Group Publishing Limited.' Furthermore, good practice guidelines are provided to enable HEIs to respond effectively to industry requirements; to provide lifelong learning via through-life studentship; to promote collaboration amongst HEIs, industries, professional bodies and communities, and to promote the adoption, diffusion and exploitation of the latest learning and teaching technologies. Research limitations:The empirical focus of the research is limited to three (3) EU countries, namely UK, Lithuania and Estonia. This paper focuses on role of HEIs in enhancing the disaster risk reduction capacity in the built environment, especially at the stage of post-disaster reconstruction. Practical implications:The recommendations provided on good practice suggest how HEIs can integrate disaster related knowledge into their curriculum faster than previously and how they are able to assist their educators and learners in building up their knowledge base on a continuous basis. Social implications:Capacity building in enhancing disaster risk reduction during the post-disaster reconstruction stage through the provision of lifelong learning will create social implications within the responsiveness of built environment professionals to cater for disaster resilience.Original / value: The appropriateness of lifelong learning as an approach to disaster management education is justified. The challenges HEIs face in accommodating lifelong learning and the recommendations on good practice guidelines in order to make the HEIs more responsive to educational needs are discussed.

PurposeThis paper investigates the lean enabling human capacities and develops a framework integrating individual, organisational and environmental level strategies to build human capacities for successful lean implementation of small and medium contractors (SMCs) in Sri Lanka.Design/methodology/approachAn interpretivism stance is adopted, and a qualitative research approach is used. The data collection technique adopted is semi-structured interviews. In total, 24 experts with experience in lean implementation of SMCs were interviewed, and data were analysed through code based content analysis using NVivo10.FindingsTeam working skills, critical thinking, leadership, communication skills, work ethics, knowledge and positive attitudes were identified as lean enabling human capacities for SMCs. The framework developed in this study provides individual, organisational and environmental level strategies that can be used to build human capacities necessary for enabling lean in construction SMCs.Practical implicationsThe study will be beneficial to construction SMCs, academics, researchers and government institutions in developing countries, which share socio-economic, demographic or cultural traits similar to Sri Lanka.Originality/valueA novel lean enabling human capacity building framework is developed with the strategies required for building those capacities in order to accelerate the lean implementation in construction SMCs. This contributes to the body of knowledge as it uncovers individual, organisational and environmental level strategies for enabling lean through human capacity building in Sri Lankan SMCs.

Abstract:One justification of public private partnerships (PPP) is the alleged benefit they offer in terms of through-life management (TLM). Aiming at an evaluation of this claim, the dominant reasoning connecting PPPs and TLM is first defined: In creating a single point of responsibility and a long temporal involvement, the PPP model provides an effective incentive to implement TLM. This reasoning is first evaluated through prior large scale studies and through two case studies undertaken by the authors. No substantial evidence of TLM benefits is found. To identify the causes for this gap between intention and achievement, a critical review of the PPP literature supported by insights from management and organization theory is undertaken. Four problems in the reasoning are found to explain the gap: fragmentation is factually prevailing; not all parties in PPPs intend to have a long term commitment to the project; there may be competing incentives for some parties; and the effort to achieve the change and learning necessary for TLM may be missing. It is concluded that for the TLM benefits to be achieved, the PPP model has to be redesigned to secure incentivisation towards TLM and to incorporate TLM mechanisms at the level of the production system.

Lack of sufficient attention to the possible benefits of adopting lean concept has hindered the performance of small and medium enterprise (SME) contractors in Sri Lanka. Insufficient knowledge on minimising non-value adding activities (NVAA) is considered as the major barrier to implementing lean. Moreover, there is a lack of empirical research identifying NVAA, in order to trigger lean adoption in Sri Lankan SME contractors. Hence, the paper investigates NVAA, their significance and the causes, which hinder lean implementation in Sri Lankan SME contractors. A literature review, followed by five case studies were carried out, and the data were analysed using 5-why analysis. According to findings, lean construction is still a relatively unfamiliar approach among SME contractors in Sri Lanka. Some organisations follow lean techniques in an ad-hoc manner without an adequate understanding of the concept. The studyfurther identified defects, inventory and waiting as major NVAA categories relevant to SME contractors. Lack of finance, insufficient training, cultural inertia, lack of individual capacities, lack of networking and collaboration, and lack of action learning were identified as the root causes for NVAA of SME contractors. Although respondents expressed their willingness to implement lean to enhance value, they identified lack of capacities as a major constraint against enabling lean adoption among SME contractors in Sri Lanka.

Lean construction is still at the premature stage of the small and medium contractors (SMCs) in Sri Lanka. Lack of focus on human capacities required to implement lean has hindered its implementation. Thus, human capacity building is a paramount factor for successful lean implementation of SMCs in Sri Lanka. However, there is a lack of empirical investigation on human capacities and strategies to build human capacities for lean implementation in Sri Lankan SMCs. This paper investigates the lean enabling human capacities and strategies, and hence develops a framework to build those human capacities for successful lean implementation in Sri Lankan SMCs. The research adopts interpretivism stance and uses the qualitative survey strategy. The empirical data collection technique adopted is semi-structured interviews with 24 experts who are having experiences both in SMCs and lean implemented projects. The code based content analysis was used as the data collection technique, which was supported by NVivo10 and interactive data visualisation tool, Power Bi was used to present the analysed data. The research identified team working skills, critical thinking, leadership, communication skills, work ethics, knowledge and positive attitudes as lean enabling human capacities in SMCs. Training, learning and using existing capacities were identified as the most significant individual level strategies, where education and training, and financial support for SMCs were recognised as strategies that can be used by external environment entities to build the above capacities. The developed framework further highlighted that use of existing capacities, proper recruitment, proper investments, networking, maintain a lean culture and learning by doing as organisational strategies to build the lean enabling capacities. Industry practitioners can use this framework to develop lean enabling human capacities in order to accelerate the lean implementation in Sri Lankan SMCs.

Recent reports suggest that even the current industry skills needs are not being adequately met with graduate capabilities falling short of industry expectations. If higher education institutions (HEIs) are to respond effectively to the current and future challenges, a robust conceptual appreciation of the education-industry skills context is required in order to support recommendations and, ultimately, interventions. A conceptual framework aimed at addressing the 'mismatch' between the skills requirements of industry and the competences of graduates in the built environment sector was derived. A series of surveys was undertaken on the basis of the derived framework. It was intended that the findings from the surveys would enable the framework to be refined and validated. However, some of the findings suggest that the originally derived conceptual framework does not adequately represent the complexity of the professional learning context and it is not feasible to refine it. This paper describes the conceptual framework which was derived, highlights selected findings from surveys which indicate its inadequacy and then draws on the contemporary literature of higher education futures to discuss the implications for a more representative framework. Recommendations for a closer representation of the education-industry context and for further research directions are made.Towards a framework for closer university-industry collaboration in educating built environment ...